Biography of Gabriel García Márquez & ‘Magical Realism’ and the ‘Boom’

By:Shanel ChisholmMadhavika GopalDaniel Schwapp

Gabriel García MárquezHe was born on March 6, 1928 in the small town of

Aracataca,in Magdalena, Colombia (a tropical region of northern Colombia, between the mountains and the Caribbean Sea).

He grew up with his grandparents in Aracataca- his grandfather was a colonel from the civil war. After his grandfather died he went to live with his parents in Sucre, Colombia- Luisa Santiaga Márquez and Gabriel Eligio García.

He went to a Jesuit college and began to read law, but his studies were soon broken off for his work as a journalist. In 1954 he was sent to Rome on an assignment for his newspaper, and since then he has mostly lived abroad - in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Mexico.

He has written screenplays and has continued to work as a journalist.

Some of his works are: 1. Love in the Time of Cholera 2. Autumn of the Patriarch 3. One Hundred Years of Solitude 4. Chronicle of a Death Foretold etc,

Most of his novels are related to some aspect of Márquez’s life. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is base on a murder that took place in Sucre in 1951. Santigo’s character is based on one of Márquez’s childhood friends, Cayetano Gentile Chimento.

Márquez’s grandmother Doña Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes influenced his writing tremendously. As a child his grandmother told him stores of ghosts, premonitions ( strong feelings that something is about to happen), omen and portent (a sign that something is likely to happen).

According to García Márquez she was "the source of the magical, superstitious and supernatural view of reality".

‘Magical Realism’ and the ‘Boom’

The Latin American Boom was a literary movement of the 60’s and 70’s when young Latin American novelists’ works were being circulated around Europe. Writers like:

- Julio Cortázar of Argentina- Carlos Fuentes of Mexico- Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru- Gabriel García Márquez of Colombia

Márquez is the most internationally renowned of the Boom writers. He has achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for introducing what has been labeled ”Magical Realism” to the literary world. He experimented with more or less traditional approaches to reality, so that "the most frightful, the most unusual things are told with the deadpan expression.”

What is Magical Realism?- It is an aesthetic style of fiction in which magical

elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences- a mixture of real world and fantasy

Why is Magical Realism used?- Magical Realism rose in popularity during the time

of the ‘boom’. This form of telling a story makes people want to read more. It brings about a connection between real life and fantasy. Also, it was used as an educational tool.

Magical Realism inChronicle of a Death Foretold

There are many example of Magical Realism in the novel.The dreams Santiago had “He’d dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant he was happy in his dream” (3)“he was alone in a tinfoil airplane an lyin through the almond trees without bumping into anything” (4)Placida Linero closes the door and doesn’t let Santiago enter, and he dies on the door.

Xius died because of sadness, “He was healthier than the rest of us, but when you listened with the stethoscope you could hear the tears bubbling inside his heart” (37).Santiago’s Mother can analyze dreams but, fails to predict what is going to happen to her son. The Narrator’s mother just gets to “know” things.

“So he put the knife in his hand and dragged him off almost by force in search of their sister's lost honour.” There's no way out of this," he told him. "It's as if it had already happened.”They left by way of the pigpen gate with the knives unwrapped, trailed by the uproar of the dogs in the yards.”(61)

“In addition, the dogs, aroused by the smell of death, increased the uneasiness. They hadn't stopped howling since I went into the house, when Santiago Nasar was still in his death throes in the kitchen and I found Divina Flor weeping in great howls and holding them off with a stick."Help me," she shouted to me. "What they want is to eat his guts.”We locked them up in the stable. Plácida Linero later ordered them taken to some place far off until after the funeral. But toward noon, no one knew how, they escaped from where they were and burst madly into the house. Plácida Linero, just once, lost her grip."Those shitty dogs!" she shouted. "Kill them!””(74)

“They pushed open the door to the courtyard, surrounded by the dogs, who recognised them in the half light of dawn, and they greeted Prudencia Cotes's mother in the kitchen.”(62)

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